Texas Representatives encourage saftey for blind Chinese activist

Chen Guangcheng heading from the U.S. Embassy to a hospital on Wednesday. (AP)

Several Texas legislators have taken a stand in the on-going debate involving a blind Chinese activist who, fearing for the safety of himself and his family, is attempting to come to America.

Austin Republican Rep. Michael McCaul has co-authored a letter asking Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who is currently visiting China, to grant humanitarian parole and then asylum to the activist Chen Guangcheng and his family

“It appears naïve to have expected the Chinese regime, given its atrocious record on human rights and its hunting down of dissidents, to ever have fulfilled such commitments. Your presence in Beijing, however, places upon you a special moral responsibility to assist Mr. Chen by all means possible,” the letter reads.

The letter has gotten 14 signatures including those of Rep. Ted Poe, a Republican from the city of Humble and Round Rock Republican Rep. John Carter. Florida Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee which Poe and McCaul sit on, also co-authored the letter.

Chen, a prominent activist in China who was under house arrest, fled to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing last month where he was kept for six days. The U.S. agreed to release him to the Chinese government after being assured that Chen and his family would not be harmed. Since then, the deal protecting Chen has shown itself to be weak – Chen and his family have received threats and the Obama administration has come under fire for their handling of the situation.

Chen has asked to fly to America with Clinton. China has stated that Chen can apply to study abroad in America and a State Department spokesperson said he has been offered a fellowship by an American university.

Poe has stated that he is concerned for Chen’s safety and encouraged the U.S. to make sure Chen was protected.

“I don’t know all of the details about the dissident but it appears to me that he is obviously someone who speaks out against the totalitarian Chinese regime that denies human rights to the citizens of China,” Poe said in an interview with Newsmax. “When people do criticize the Chinese government there are historical consequences that these people pay individually, and sometimes retaliation, whether it’s jail — or retaliation against their family.”